How to Raise a Creative Child

Children have naturally active imaginations which lead to incredible creativity. While adults tend to become wrapped up in work schedules and “adulting”, children have free minds that are filled with the wonderful and inspired. They’re also pretty cute too. Just listening to a story about the purple puppy dog and his stinky hot dog breath is enough to put a smile on anyone’s face.

While anyone can enjoy the creative magic that children possess, sometimes it can be difficult for adults to raise such talented individuals if they don’t identify as creative themselves. Of course, no one wants to stifle their child’s creativity, but when it is hard to know how to cultivate the creative process, often parents tend to do so.

Why Are Kids So Creative?

Let’s begin by exploring why kids are so creative. From a scientific perspective, adults learn to adapt to patterns that serve them well and learn to navigate through tough situations, social norms, and patterns that make them successful. Children are not constrained to these thought patterns. Their imaginations are free to push boundaries without fear of judgment or being unsuccessful. This freedom allows children to use their minds to create new universes, species, and even snacks. It is marvelous to watch the freedom of a child, but what happens when parents find it completely unrelatable?

The Challenges of Creative Children

If a child is extremely gifted and creative, sometimes parents are at a loss for how to keep their child occupied. Creative children often need more busywork to keep their minds engaged and parents are forced to tap into their creative mind to make activities for their child. While Mom Bloggers and art websites for kids seem to have this all figured out, the average parent struggles with this situation.

Other challenges include:

• Increased need for attention/approval
• Endless creations with nowhere to store them
• The child has trouble focusing
• The pressure to constantly come up with NEW activities

These challenges present themselves when parents are low on time. Creative children want their parents to be proud of them and engage with them, but oftentimes time is not on the side of the adult.

What If You Aren’t Creative?

If a parent struggles with being creative and relating to the creativity of their child, may they take comfort in the fact that they are not alone. So many parents struggle with this exact situation and yet there is still a stigma around it. Thankfully, there are easy solutions to this common conundrum that will improve the lives of creative kids and their adults.

• Simplicity is key: Keep it simple. Kids have been playing with rocks, sticks, and mud for centuries. Allowing children to be bored is actually a great way to ensure their creativity will spark. Also, eliminate pressure to constantly introduce new ideas. Kids need repetition to create pathways in the brain that influence decision making, communication, and self-awareness.
  
  
• Allow free play: Creative development in children is dependent on freedom. Give children unstructured playtime to allow them to engage in dramatic play, art, music, and even math and science.
  
  
• Introduce sensory items: Sensory experiences are overdone in the media these days, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have an important role in a child’s life. Letting children get messy and use all five senses to explore is imperative to development and to fueling creative minds.
  
  
• Talk about it: Talking about the made-up worlds and fantastical art pieces with children encourages them to continue expressing themselves. Not to mention, they will continue including their parents in their endeavors which is always fun to listen to.
  
  
• Let them be passionate: When a child discovers a particular calling, encourage it. Feed their curiosity and let it flourish. Whether it be dancing the macarena or painting all in pink, who knows? Maybe these children will become champions of the macarena or recognized for discovering a new shade.
  
  
• Invest in yourself: Parents can often find it difficult to take time to invest in their own creative hobbies, but that makes it even more important. Taking time to feed creativity as an adult makes more connections available between parent and child. Plus, it’s fun and relaxing which makes parents even better at being present.
  
  

Creative Ideas from Ruffbooks

If there is still room for more creative ideas, check out Ruffbooks for new ideas every other week. Ruffbooks is an IOS app that can aid in the organization and digital storage of children’s art. Instead of struggling with how to save kids’ artwork, parents and teachers everywhere have been celebrating this new innovative art app. With features to create child artwork portfolios and the ability to order printed photo books, this app is truly a lifesaver for the creative child’s parent.